League of Explorers is shaking up the meta in a lot of wonderful ways. Decks I never could've imagined are being created thanks to some of the adventure's new cards, including this murloc Paladin that's really more of a control and combo deck than an aggressive one.
The Anyfin Paladin is unlike any deck you've ever seen. It's a murloc deck that wins in the late-game, and it's a Paladin deck that wins via one-turn-kill (OTK) burst damage, both of which are very unusual. Craziest of all is that it's a Paladin deck with Murloc Knight! What has League of Explorers done to the decks we all know and love! If you want a powerful deck that turns every expectation on its head, look no further!
General Strategy
Forget everything you know about murloc decks, because this doesn't play anything like one. This deck is actually a midrange deck that wants games to run relatively long while looking for one big turn that swings the game and opens up an otherwise impossible opportunity to win. It has lots of cards to slow down your opponents, tons of heals, and various kinds of card draw, all staples of late-game control decks.
In the early-game, you can play like a traditional midrange Paladin, looking for great board-presence plays on the back of Shielded Minibot, Knife Juggler, and Muster of Battle. You've got an alternate route of early-game play that relies on murloc synergies. Either way you get started, you need to swell into the mid-game with the enemy's board in check and a hand full of cards.
Eventually you'll want to play through your murlocs and get most of them killed while generating value. You don't have to do anything crazy with them, just make solid plays and eventually get them killed. You want them dead to set up a huge turn later in the game with the new spell Anyfin Can Happen.
When you finally cast Anyfin Can Happen, one of two things will happen. You could instantly win the game by spawning all 7 of your murlocs simultaneously. That would give you 3 charging minions that do a total of 30 damage. Even if you aren't able to burst them down or only summon a few murlocs, you can still reload your board in one fell swoop and recover from games that looked unwinnable one turn prior.
How to Mulligan
With this deck, you're really not trying to get your murlocs right away, despite their low cost. They're usually going to get more value if you save up a couple of them for a single dump of murlocs all at once in a later turn. In the mulligan, you should really try to get the standard Paladin openers, Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, and Muster for Battle.
If you're going up against a hyper-aggressive deck, you can look for a Coghammer to give you an extra early-game taunt and tempo advantage. Aldor Peacekeeper can also be good to neutralize quick threats.
Matchups
This deck can be designed to have even more late-game potential if you're coming up against too many control decks. Murloc Knights certainly fit the theme, and can provide you with a quicker and more reliable way to summon murlocs from Anyfin Can Happen, but you also risk messing up your burst potential with undesirable murlocs.
You could also add two control Paladin staples with Equality an Tirion Fordring, both of which are excellent at extending games and buying you the time you need for your one-turn-kill from Anyfin Can Happen.
Summary
I absolutely love decks like this. It's totally unique and a brand new archetype from an unexpected class. Who could've imagined that an OTK murloc Paladin would ever exist. League of Explorers is doing amazing things for the game, and I hope you're able to do amazing things on the ranked ladder with this powerful deck.
The Anyfin Paladin is unlike any deck you've ever seen. It's a murloc deck that wins in the late-game, and it's a Paladin deck that wins via one-turn-kill (OTK) burst damage, both of which are very unusual. Craziest of all is that it's a Paladin deck with Murloc Knight! What has League of Explorers done to the decks we all know and love! If you want a powerful deck that turns every expectation on its head, look no further!
General Strategy
Forget everything you know about murloc decks, because this doesn't play anything like one. This deck is actually a midrange deck that wants games to run relatively long while looking for one big turn that swings the game and opens up an otherwise impossible opportunity to win. It has lots of cards to slow down your opponents, tons of heals, and various kinds of card draw, all staples of late-game control decks.
In the early-game, you can play like a traditional midrange Paladin, looking for great board-presence plays on the back of Shielded Minibot, Knife Juggler, and Muster of Battle. You've got an alternate route of early-game play that relies on murloc synergies. Either way you get started, you need to swell into the mid-game with the enemy's board in check and a hand full of cards.
Eventually you'll want to play through your murlocs and get most of them killed while generating value. You don't have to do anything crazy with them, just make solid plays and eventually get them killed. You want them dead to set up a huge turn later in the game with the new spell Anyfin Can Happen.
When you finally cast Anyfin Can Happen, one of two things will happen. You could instantly win the game by spawning all 7 of your murlocs simultaneously. That would give you 3 charging minions that do a total of 30 damage. Even if you aren't able to burst them down or only summon a few murlocs, you can still reload your board in one fell swoop and recover from games that looked unwinnable one turn prior.
How to Mulligan
With this deck, you're really not trying to get your murlocs right away, despite their low cost. They're usually going to get more value if you save up a couple of them for a single dump of murlocs all at once in a later turn. In the mulligan, you should really try to get the standard Paladin openers, Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, and Muster for Battle.
If you're going up against a hyper-aggressive deck, you can look for a Coghammer to give you an extra early-game taunt and tempo advantage. Aldor Peacekeeper can also be good to neutralize quick threats.
Matchups
- Control: Although this deck has the potential to do battle over long games, it's not specifically designed to play into fatigue. You'll be merely "keeping up" while looking for one big swing turn to win the game. You need to manage your resources very carefully, save Anyfin can Happen until you either know it's a kill or you need the minion presence. Don't let your murlocs go to waste throughout the game, as a 1/1 Grimscale Oracle won't do much on its own, but could be a valuable threat in combination with a Bluegill Warrior and Old Murk-Eye. Alternatively, you may be able to rush them down with early-game pressure, so if your curve is smooth, consider that option.
- Aggro: This deck is surprisingly efficient at overcoming aggressive decks. Not only does it have a lot of early-game board presence, but there are a handful of taunts and a bunch of different heals to help you stabilize. You should very easily be able to hold out early and then set yourself for the win before too long. The only risk is drawing especially poorly. As long as you don't have the worst luck in the world, this should be a matchup you win a majority of the time.
This deck can be designed to have even more late-game potential if you're coming up against too many control decks. Murloc Knights certainly fit the theme, and can provide you with a quicker and more reliable way to summon murlocs from Anyfin Can Happen, but you also risk messing up your burst potential with undesirable murlocs.
You could also add two control Paladin staples with Equality an Tirion Fordring, both of which are excellent at extending games and buying you the time you need for your one-turn-kill from Anyfin Can Happen.
Summary
I absolutely love decks like this. It's totally unique and a brand new archetype from an unexpected class. Who could've imagined that an OTK murloc Paladin would ever exist. League of Explorers is doing amazing things for the game, and I hope you're able to do amazing things on the ranked ladder with this powerful deck.
